The month of May is on track to be the least deadly month for troops serving in Iraq since February 2004.

As of late Friday, the Pentagon reported that 21 coalition troops--19 Americans and two Georgians--died in Iraq this month. Four of the American deaths were categorized as "non-hostile" incidents by the U.S. military.

There also appears to be a marked reduction in violence against Iraqi civilians. The Associated Press reports that 516 Iraqis were killed violently this month, the lowest monthly figure since December 2005 when 375 civilians were killed.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad earlier this week, Admiral Patrick Driscoll, a Multi-National Force Iraq spokesman, said that security incidents decreased to a level not seen since March of 2004. Overall, the number of attacks has decreased by 70 percent since the last of "surge" troops arrived in June of 2007, Driscoll said.

U.S. commanders are giving much of the credit to the improved Iraqi security forces but a truce between anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and the Iraqi government hammered out earlier this month is likely a more significant factor in the drop in violence.

Since the truce, thousands of Iraqi troops are patrolling the sprawling slums of Sadr City, the Baghdad enclave of more than 2 million Shiites that is the base of Sadr's popular support

For the moment, the cleric's Mahdi Army loyalists are holding their fire, but the situation remains tenuous.

On Friday, thousands of followers of Sadr protested in Shiite enclaves across Iraq against plans for a long-term security pact that would allow for an extended U.S. military presence in the country.

Sadr wants any security pact between the Americans and Iraqi government subject to a referrendum.

That is extremely good news, thank God. Though the violence is not over, our losses will not go away and the Ridiculous Republicans should pay, politically, for their ineptness and hypocrisy !! There is absolutely no excuse for incompetence and that is all we received from the lack of leadership from the Bush/Cheney Regime !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

I've always wondered what percentage of the population was causing all of the havoc.

Perhaps now that percentage has been reduced to a manageable level.

Either that or other factors are at play, including the prolonged presidential nominating process.

If Hillary wins the nomination, that's going to drive the Muslim world insane.

That's not to suggest we should give a rat's patooie what the Muslim world thinks about OUR politics. But the reality is a woman in the White House would likely up-end the Muslim culture.

Similarly, McCain's saber rattling won't do much for long-term peace either. Again, not to say we shouldn't elect McCain because of what the Muslim world thinks. This is just my gut feeling about a possible factor behind the decrease in violence.

In short, we should see what the situation is next January. If the violence remains low, the next president should begin to take steps to reduce our forces in Iraq. Surely by then the Iraqi forces will be ready to "STEP UP." Wasn't that the original plan?

TRY TELLING THAT TO THE FAMILIES OF THESE MEN AND WOMEN, MR McCAIN:.
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WASHINGTON - "Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007 at the highest rate on record, and the toll is climbing ever higher this year as long war deployments stretch on."

"At least 115 soldiers killed themselves last year, up from 102 the previous year, the Army said Thursday".

MEANWHILE, BACK IN IRAQ...
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Thu May 29, 3:28 PM ET
BAGHDAD - "A suicide bomber detonated explosives among a group of men seeking police jobs Thursday, killing 16 people crowded around a recruiting station in northwestern Iraq despite warnings of an attack."

"The blast in the town of Sinjar, about 240 miles northwest of Baghdad, occurred about three weeks after U.S. and Iraqi forces launched an offensive to drive al-Qaida in Iraq out of Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq and the terror movement's last major urban stronghold."
-http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080529/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

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